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Great night out

I'd vaguely heard of Dave Gorman due to his project 'Are You Dave Gorman?' where he set out to meet 50-odd fellow Dave Gormans in 2000. The first thing I really saw of his, however, was his stand-up show last year where he cycled the country stopping at various venues to perform. I'd taken a punt on going to see him, just wanting to go to see a show. I had no expectations, not knowing much about him, and had a really great time.

So, I was looking out for him touring again (he blogs and tweets copiously) and when he started his new stand-up show 'Powerpoint Presentation' bought tickets for the Bristol show at Colston Hall. The date coincided quite closely with my birthday, so he was my birthday present to me. Our tickets cost £25 each.

We had decent seats in the rear stalls, with a good view of the stage, and no tall people in front.

The show was due to start at 8, but the theatre was still filling. It seemed to be a full house when the lights went down and things started to happen.

I wasn't expecting a support act, as the previous tour hadn't had one (I suppose for that one finding someone to cycle the entire country with him might have posed a problem!), but there was, a young comedian called Jay Foreman. He performed a number of songs: I particularly liked the one called "Stealing Food", harking back to student days and the annoying person who pinched your stuff. Some of his material was meant to jolt you and not necessarily to everyone's taste, such as "I'm glad John Lennon died", while I wasn't particularly comfortable with "Little Japanese Baby", which was about a man discovering he had been cuckolded by his partner when their baby is born. I wasn't keen... Foreman was a personable guy, and got a lot of laughs. Some of his songs are available to view online at his website.

During the intermission, Foreman was to be found in the lobby signing copies of his CD for anyone who wanted to buy it.

Afterwards, it was Dave Gorman himself on stage. Gorman is a likeable, everyman presence on the stage. The show was engaging and had me laughing quickly. He seems to genuinely enjoy performing and that's infectious.

He had a giant screen behind him to do his 'PowerPoint Presentation'. This was used to illustrate his anecdotes but didn't overshadow them: it was skilfully put-together.

His material dealt with the joys of the internet and marketing, his adventures in Twitter and the debatable pleasures of instant feedback from the public. (For example, when he had noticeably put on weight in the past year or so, he was kindly informed of as much by several hundred followers. He's slimmed down since, so perhaps 'banter' is the best diet pill). I particularly liked his 'found poems' stitched out of the irate words of commenters at news websites.

Over all, I enjoyed the performance a great deal and laughed a lot. I am left with an almost irresistible desire to send Gorman endless pictures of people who look nothing like him via Twitter.

The Other Half said he enjoyed this show more than the previous tour ('Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop And Stand Up') of Gorman's we'd seen. I think I preferred the other slightly, but then as I said, I went into that one with no expectations. It was a great evening's entertainment. After the show, both Gorman and Foreman were going to be available to meet, but we just departed. On the way out, I did spy Gorman hiding behind a pillar, presumably before going to meet his public!

Dave Gorman is a stand-up comedian, writer, tv presenter (notably the series 'Genius' in which members of the public suggest inventions which are ruled to be 'genius' - or not.) I'd recommend his tour to anyone who enjoys his humour.